Last five months have been very busy for me as a seemingly endless line of clients kept me very occupied so while my astrological practice indeed flourished, there was not much time left for updating my blog and I don’t like doing anything in haste.

To begin with, I’m fascinated by prophecies – first and foremost by the ones from the Bible and secondly by those stemming from (not so ancient) people who left written testimonies of their prophetic abilities for us to wonder and ponder upon. One of those people is Nicolaas Pieter Johannes (“Niklaas“ or “Siener“) Janse van Rensburg (30 August 1864 – 11 March 1926) a Boer seer from South African Republic who became famous during his lifetime for accurately predicting several important events. He also spoke about future global affairs culminating in WW 3 and his visions were recorded by his daughter Anna. There’s even a fascinating BBC documentary on this man

Now what does he have to do with the horary chart delineated in this text?

Well, he prophesied that not long after a great black leader has died, riots would erupt in South Africa, leading to a bloody civil war. War would also engulf almost the entire East Africa and when these times come (and the “ice starts melting”) WW 3 will start as Russia joins China against western powers in the Middle east, and so on.

Being aware of this prophecy since 2009 I was anxiously following the news about the rapidly deteriorating health of Nelson Mandela who was hospitalized for lung infection at the time of my question. This, coupled with my inborn eagerness to pry into the future and the destiny of mankind, led to the query “When will Nelson Mandela die?”

Mandela is represented by the ascendant in Taurus(close to Algol), its lady Venus and the general co-significator, the Moon. Peregrine, occidental Venus in the 4th in Leo (with its twelfth part in the bounds of Saturn!), a royal sign nicely depicts a very famous, old person at the end of his life. Interestingly, Venus rules the 6th (illness) as well and posited in the 4th, she accurately describes the afflicted organ – lungs (and probably heart as well)! The Moon as a sect light and kingdom/triplicity lord of the ascendant in its depression in the 7th WSH/mundane 6th in a lame degree is another fitting symbol of a depleted, feeble life force and worn out body, heavily burdened by advanced age and illness.

Again, as in couple of other examples I’ve provided on this blog, the slightest sign of worsening in the relevant planets’ condition is a sure testimony of death. For one, Venus being joined by the Moon in its own fall from the sign of her detriment by square is one reliable testimony. Another one is Venus’s proximity to the end of her current sign of Leo, after which she enters the sign of her depression, Virgo. Both of these are perfected nearly in the same number of degrees – five and a half. Based upon fixed signs of long ascension and the houses which are in the slow, descending part of heaven, the theory seemed to favor longer time units (months), though on the other hand they also appeared too long, given Mandela’s grave condition. I thought weeks would be most appropriate,but…

Four and a half months later, on 5 December, Mandela died – a month earlier than the number of degrees seemed to symbolize. Well, the chart isn’t radical so perhaps one shouldn’t expect it to be too precise in its indications. However, after inspecting it with greater care (trying to squeeze the right moment out of it, actually!) I noticed a potentially important detail – namely, Jupiter’s twelfth part in the beginning of the 30th degree of Leo. As 8th house lord, he has the final say in the matters of death. In four and a half degrees, Venus perfects her conjunction with Jupiter’s twelfth part, accurately depicting the time of Mandela’s passing away.

All in all, my point is that perhaps one should pay more attention to what twelfth-parts have to say in horary charts, especially in ‘sensitive’ cases like this. We have a great, fascinating set of tools& techniques at our disposal in true astrology’s kit and as long as we don’t try to distort it by making things up which are inconsistent/irreconcilable with its fundamental principles, I think we’re free to experiment with what we’ve been given.

As for van Rensburg’s prophecies…time will tell whether he was right or not. Based on the current state of global affairs, I think one shouldn’t discard them as false (yet).